Alice means Truth, Ana means Grace
by Toffrox33
Summary: Two very different stories, about two different men who both find love they weren't expecting while wandering the streets of muggle London. Two seperate oneshots: Draco/OC, Charlie/OC
1. Alice means Truth

**I don't own Harry Potter! JK Rowling does!**

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_~-~Alice means Truth~-~_

It was mid-February, so, naturally, London was freezing cold. Draco didn't mind. He wandered around muggle London in a thin black coat and the icy wind was only cold for a few minutes before his whole body was numb. Draco had been feeling numb for a while now. Ever since the end of the war in fact. That was almost ten months ago now.

Draco liked to wander aimlessly around muggle London. It didn't surprise him at all that he had developed an almost fond feeling towards the muggles. After all the horrible things he had watched happen to muggles (sometimes he'd even helped), he couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of remorse. Plus, now that everywhere he went in the wizarding world, people went out of their way to avoid him and sent him fearful or disgusted looks when he walked past, the calm, oblivious muggle world was a relief… an escape.

He sighed and continued wandering, trying to block out all the sounds around him, and not noticing the girl calling out to him from behind…

_~-~-~_

Alice was walking down the street hurriedly, trying to reach her friend's flat as quickly as possible to get out of the cold. But when she was halfway there, she spotted a man, probably around her age, walking past.

She slowed when she saw him, because something about him just caught her eye. Probably his hair. It was white-blond and the winter breeze was blowing strands of it across his pale, pointed face. His expressionless eyes stared straight ahead, and he didn't seem to know where he was going. He must have been freezing, since his clothes looked pretty thin, which made Alice frown.

Then, something slipped out of his coat pocket onto the ground. He didn't notice.

"Excuse me!" She called out to him, walking towards him from behind. He didn't hear her. "Excuse me!" She repeated loudly, "Sir!" She called. She ran forward and picked up what he had dropped. "Sir! You dropped your… stick… thing." It was a smooth, dark brown stick that had been carefully polished. One end was pointy, and the other was tipped with a silver handle. The man still didn't hear her, so she ran after him.

"Excuse me!" She said, tapping his shoulder. He turned around sharply and reached for him pocket. He was a lot taller than her almost two feet taller, in fact. His icy grey eyes stared down at her penetratingly and she instinctively shrunk back. "Um… you dropped this." She said quietly. The man looked down in surprise at the stick thing. His eyes widened fearfully and he snatched it from her hand, shoving it in his pocket.

"Thank you." He said icily, before turning away and walking off.

Alice stood still in the middle of the path, despite the cold. After about three minutes, she shook herself and walked away. But she didn't stop thinking about the man. In fact, she thought about him all week.

_~-~-~_

_One Week Later…_

Draco had just had an argument with his father. This wasn't uncommon, but this time, when Draco stormed out of the house, he wasn't coming back. He grabbed a suitcase, shoved everything he might need into it and left Malfoy Manor. For good.

The only problem was, he didn't know where to go next. He wandered aimlessly around muggle London with his suitcase until he found himself on the same street he'd been on about a week ago. Strange.

He glanced around, wondering if there was a pub or something where he could stay for the night. In the muggle world, where no one would ever find him. Because honestly, who would think to look for Draco Malfoy in the heart of muggle London?

He spotted a pub and walked towards it, pausing in the shadows to shrink his suitcase to pocket size and slip it into his pocket. Then he went inside the pub, took out some muggle money and bought himself a muggle beer. He'd been at the bar for a few minutes when a group of girls, around his age entered the pub. He didn't think anything of it until about a minute later, when one of them approached him.

"Hey, it's you." She said in surprise. He glanced at her; it was the girl from last week: The muggle girl who'd picked up his wand. She was quite short, with brown hair that fell to her shoulders. Her skin was pale and sprinkled with freckles, and her eyes were an odd hazel colour that sparkled almost yellow in the dim light.

"Oh… Hello." He said, nodding politely. The girl sat next to him.

"My name's Alice." She said confidently, offering her hand. Draco frowned slightly, wondering why on earth she might be talking to him and shook the hand.

"Draco." He said. The girl tilted her head curiously.

"Draco? That's an odd name." She said. Draco stared at her blankly. He wasn't used to people just talking to him so casually, without fear. Especially since in his world, everyone knew and despised the name Draco Malfoy.

"It's Latin." Draco said.

"Oh, cool." The girl smiled. "Do you know what it means?"

Draco grimaced. "It means dragon." He muttered.

"Wow, that's a lot more interesting than my name." She said admiringly. Draco looked at her and saw that she was genuinely impressed. He felt a small smile creep onto his face.

"What does your name mean?" He asked her.

"Truth." Alice said, rolling her eyes. Draco looked at the pure, innocent look in her eyes and found himself smiling wider at her.

"That's not any less interesting than my name. I think it tells people a lot about you." He said solemnly. She rolled her eyes, but blushed and looked flattered.

"It is just a name." She said with a shrug.

"You can tell a lot of things about a person through their name." Draco said seriously. Alice looked at him curiously and smiled.

"Do you want to join me and my friends?" She asked him. Draco glanced at her group of cheerful muggle friends and frowned.

"No thank you." He said politely.

"Oh. Okay." Alice said. Draco waited for her to get up and leave, but she stayed put.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Draco asked.

"No." Alice said simply. "I want to talk to you." Draco smiled at her. And they talked for the next three hours.

Her name was Alice Fordyce. She was from Scotland, but she no longer had an accent. She lived on her own in a flat in town. She was actually interested in Draco. Not his money, or his blood status or his surname, but him. She was the most honest person Draco had ever met and Draco found himself completely drawn in by her.

At the end of the evening, Alice announced that she should probably go, but she'd like to see Draco again. Draco agreed and said he was free tomorrow. She was busy but she suggested the day after, and Draco agreed.

Just before she left, Draco caught her arm and looked her straight in the eye.

"Alice." He said. "If I asked you a question, would you answer truthfully?" Alice smiled almost cheekily.

"Of course."

"Would you mind if I kissed you?"

Alice blushed and looked up at him solemnly. "I wouldn't mind at all." She said quietly.

So Draco kissed her. And it was perfect.

_~-~-~_

Draco and Alice dated for a year in secret. Draco lived in a small flat in muggle London, and never visited the magical world. He lived like a muggle. Then, on the one-year anniversary of their first meeting, Draco showed Alice his wand and told her he was a wizard. He told her about his past and how he'd been living as a muggle. He told her everything... because he knew he could trust Alice. And Alice held him and looked him in the eye and told him that she didn't care. She loved him anyway.

They were married six months later. They had three children: Abigail and Isabelle (or Abby and Issy- they were twins, and Draco chose their names because they were normal, pretty names, like their mother) and Scorpius (which was a Latin name that Alice chose because it was magical and interesting). Only Scorpius got a Hogwarts letter, because only Scorpius was magical.

And Draco no longer lived in secret, to try and hide away from his world. Because this was his world. And he was happy.

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**A.N- **_For Alice, the best friend and sister in the whole wide world!! I love you :)_

_I hope you all enjoyed this- feedback appreciated!  
Toff.x_


	2. Ana means Grace

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It had been five years since the end of the second war. Five years since he left Romania to work at a dragon reserve in Wales. Five years since his long-distance relationship with his Romanian girlfriend ended abruptly when she wrote to tell him she'd found someone else. Five years since he decided that maybe he would be better off without a woman in his life.

It had been five years. Five years of being single, with the exception of a few flings. Five years living in his small flat… alone.

Then, after five years, everything changed.

_~-~Ana means Grace~-~_

Charlie Weasley shivered and shoved his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders in an attempt to keep warm. He was wandering down a street in muggle London, following the familiar path from the Leaky Cauldron to his flat.

Charlie scanned the shops around him. Something about the street seemed different… but he couldn't place it. It was usually quite a busy street, as it was quite a popular shopping area, but today it was quieter than usual.

Then, at that moment, something (or some_one_ rather) caught his eye. It all happened very quickly, but Charlie still remembers every detail of that moment to this day.

She was walking towards him, carrying a large, heavy looking box while struggling to keep hold of a cup of coffee. A loud ringing sound suddenly came from her pocket and she was caught off guard. She stumbled a few steps… started to fall forwards… Her coffee started to tip and fall from her hands. All of this seemed to happen in slow motion. Then, everything sped up and Charlie acted instinctively. In one swift moment, he leapt forward, snatched the coffee cup out from mid-air with one hand and grabbed the woman's elbow with the other, preventing her from tripping over.

The woman yelped in surprise, looking amazed that she was still standing. Her eyes turned and met Charlie's. She had olive skin, and warm brown eyes. Her jet-black hair was thick and wavy, and pulled back in a messy knot, several strands hanging over her face. She wore faded jeans, a pale yellow t-shirt and an old, baggy grey cardigan.

Then she blinked and the moment was gone. Charlie realised he was still holding her elbow and let go abruptly, his cheeks warming.

"Um, here." He said awkwardly, offering her the coffee cup back.

"Oh. Thanks." The woman said with a smile. She had a strange accent that Charlie couldn't place. She tried to take the coffee cup from him but she couldn't move much other than her wrist and hand or she'd drop the box. A small crease appeared between her eyebrows as she tried to clutch the coffee cup and the tip of her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth. Charlie felt himself grin at her expression and surprised himself by thinking _'she's cute'_.

"Would you like me to get that for you?" he asked. She looked up at him, surprised, as if she'd forgotten he was there.

"Um…" she looked at him, then the coffee, then her hand and the box. "Yes please." Charlie smiled at her and took the box. It was heavy, but nothing Charlie couldn't handle- he'd carried heavier. The coffee cup was now gripped awkwardly in his hand since he was now holding the box and the cup. "Thank you." The woman said, flexing her fingers now that she was free of the box. Charlie winked at her in response and shifted the box so that he held it in one hand and the other hand was free for him to pass her the coffee cup. She blushed and took it.

"Um… so were you taking this far?" He asked.

"Oh, no." The woman replied, "Just here actually." She gestured to the shop they stood next to, and Charlie suddenly realised what was different about the street. This shop (which used to be a run-down florist) was boarded up.

"Okay." Charlie grinned and gestured for her to lead the way. She opened the door of the shop for him and walked inside. Charlie noticed that without the load of the box, she was very graceful. She pushed a strand of black hair out of her face as Charlie followed her into the shop and placed the box among many others on the floor. The shop was dusty and lots of newly made shelves had been added to the walls, which were all newly painted a light yellow colour, like the woman's t-shirt. Charlie looked at the contents of the other boxes and realised why this box was so heavy.

"Books." He said. "You're starting a book shop?" He turned to the woman who smiled and nodded. He looked at her for a second, realising how pretty she was. "Is this all you've got so far?" He asked, looking at the five boxes that were on the floor. The woman grimaced.

"Um, no actually, there are three more in my car." She said.

"Would you like me to help bring them in?" Charlie asked. The woman blushed.

"If it isn't too much trouble." She said quietly.

"Not at all." Charlie grinned. "Lead the way."

As he followed her outside to her car, part of him started to try and stop him: _Stop it, Charlie!_ It said. _You said you wouldn't get involved with anyone; it'll only lead to disaster, just like last time. Just make up an excuse and leave! Don't do this to yourself- she's got to be at least five years younger than you, and she's a muggle! A muggle! There is no way this would ever work out!_

Charlie almost listened to his rational side, but then he arrived at the woman's car and turned to smile at him, and suddenly he'd forgotten everything his rational side had just told him.

_~-~-~_

Three boxes later, Charlie straightened up and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Thank you so much!" The woman said, "This is such a big help."

"No problem." Said Charlie. "I'm Charlie, by the way. Charlie Weasley." The woman looked taken aback.

"Ana Blakelock." She said.

"Ana." Charlie repeated, with a small smile. "That's a Romanian name." He said.

"Um, actually I'm from New Zealand, but err, my name comes from the pacific islands." She said. So that's where her accent was from.

"Oh, New Zealand, huh?" Charlie said.

"Yeah." Ana said. There was a short pause before she asked "Are you from Romania?"

"Oh, um, no." Charlie shook his head. "But I lived there for a while. I worked at an animal reserve."

"Oh, awesome." Ana grinned. Charlie smiled at her; he couldn't stop staring at her face.

"Ana means Grace." He said quietly.

"What?" Ana asked, sounding confused.

"In Romania. The name Ana means grace." He met her eyes. "It suits you." He said softly.

"Thank you." She breathed, staring right back at him. And Charlie decided to take a chance.

"Hey… I know we just met, but would you… would you like to come out for dinner with me tomorrow?"

Ana's cheeks turned pink and she smiled. "Sure." She said shyly.

"Great." Charlie said happily. "I'll pick you up at eight."

_~-~-~_

They spent the next evening at a small restaurant in muggle London, and then Charlie took her to a nearby park, where he showed her a spot where they could watch the sunset. Once the sun had disappeared behind the horizon, Charlie took Ana's hand. She almost didn't notice… it felt so natural. Then, he leant forward and kissed her.

They went out for a year before Charlie revealed that he was a wizard.

They stayed together for another year before Ana opened a new branch of her bookshop in Diagon Alley.

Another year passed and then Charlie proposed. They were married a few months later.

One year later, Ana gave birth to their first child: Ellie

And one more year later, Charlie, Ana and Ellie went on a walk in Hogsmeade; where Ana was thinking of opening up a third shop.

And Charlie realised that it had been five years since he'd met Ana.

Five years since everything changed.

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**A.N-**_ To my best friend and sister Ana.B! I love you too!!_

_Again, feedback appreciated!_

_Toff.x_


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